


You're Always Okay

by luciet



Category: Leverage
Genre: Established Hardison/Parker, F/M, Gen, eliot is aro, established nate/sophie, parker is ace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-01
Updated: 2017-05-01
Packaged: 2018-10-26 03:47:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10778919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luciet/pseuds/luciet
Summary: gift for thxstral - prompt: asexual Parker and aromantic Eliot, established Parker/Hardison, supportive Hardison





	You're Always Okay

**Author's Note:**

> this didn't go at all how i'd originally planned it (what fic does?), but i hope you like it and that it satisfies what you had in mind!

It was a pretty standard Tuesday morning, which meant that Parker was currently watching the security cameras outside the bar - and several local banks - while eating lunch. There wasn’t anything unusual or even noteworthy, unless you counted the recent addition of the silver-painted street performer. Past experience had taught her that the team did not find the man as noteworthy as she did. The camera angles rotated again, to show two middle-aged women in lilac hospital scrubs loitering outside the bar’s front door in just the right place to avoid being seen by the opening staff. They seemed to be having a quiet but slightly heated conversation and checking their watches often. 

Hardison had encouraged Parker’s camera-watching on the basis that it was essentially people-watching, and she could get more of a feel for other people’s behavior. With several hours of experience, she was currently 50-50 on these women either being up to something, or nervous about something. She was just deciding what to do about it when Nate walked in.

“Oh hey, Parker, you’re in early today.”

She dropped her sandwich and pointed at the cameras. “There’s people here.” Sourdough crumbs flew out of her mouth and onto the keyboard controls. She looked down, picked up the keyboard, and started shaking it upside down. “They’re either planning a heist, or they’re gonna be clients.” She continued shaking the keyboard more vigorously, until Nate came over and took it from her, setting it back down on the desk. He leaned in to see the cameras, and smiled slightly. “Good catch, Parker. Come on.” He moved toward the door, and beckoned her to join him.

She glanced at her sandwich, any excuse to stay, but Nate chuckled. “The sandwich will be there when we get back.” She sighed, but got up to follow him out to the front door of the bar. 

Nate unlocked the door, after ushering the waitstaff to the break room, and leaned out until the two women were in view. “Waiting for someone?”

They both jumped at the sound of his voice. Then the taller woman stepped forward. “We’re waiting for Nate Ford, we heard this was the place to get his help.”

Nate smiled and stepped aside, holding the door to let them in. “Well, then you’re in the right place and talking to the right person. Nate Ford.” He held out a hand to shake as they walked past him into the bar. 

Parker led them to a small booth along the wall, and they all scooted in. “Oh! Um, would you like anything to drink?” She glanced at Nate, who gave a small smile and nod.

Both women politely declined, clearly anxious to share their troubles. 

The smaller woman started nervously, coughing slightly as if to clear her throat. “We work at a small rural hospital. It changed management recently. We had been doing well - or as well as a hospital can be doing. But they’re pushing us too hard now, cutting the supply budget, having us work illegal hours, rejecting patients who don’t, don’t have the best insurance.” She wrung her hands as she spoke, and Parker noticed that she wore a narrow silver wedding ring. Parker glanced at the other woman’s hand out of habit and noticed a matching silver band on her left hand. 

She seemed near tears, and her partner gently took her hand and continued. “It’s hard on us, but we’re really worried about our patients. It’s too soon for actual statistics, and nobody likes to talk about the mortality rate of a hospital, but we’ve had more patients not make it home in the past few months than the previous few years.”

Nate nodded and replied surprisingly calmly. “It’s such a shame when that happens. We’ll definitely be in to help as soon as we can.” He slid his card across the table and asked them to email him the details.

They smiled gratefully and stood up. Nate insisted that they take some money for gas, then headed back to the offices with Parker.

* * *

 

Nate called the rest of the team to the office - much to Hardison’s dismay, he still hadn’t _quite_ gotten the hang of the group text - and they met up as usual, loosely clustered around Hardison’s state-of-the-art TV display. Eliot had snagged a beer from the bar, and had made himself an oversize sandwich that he was refusing to share. Sophie and Nate sat disgustingly close for Eliot’s taste, although they were technically still occupying two separate chairs. Parker was perched on the edge of the table with a bowl of M &Ms that no one was quite sure how she’d found. She tossed one in her mouth every so often, munching loudly, and never missed catching them. 

Nate checked that everyone was as settled as possible, then began, “Okay, Hardison, run it.”

Hardison mock-saluted Nate and then clicked the remote. Images of the hospital, the clients, the CEO, and various bank statements filled the screens. 

“Alright, we got one Maurice McMann, newest president and CEO at Hill Creek Hospital, and a real slimy bastard to boot.”

He flipped through the usual incriminating information: bad rich white guy decides to buy hospital, makes series of bad choices because they further his richness, seriously negatively affects pretty much everyone in the process.

“Isn’t this a little below our pay grade?” They all turned to look at Eliot. “What? I’m just saying- it’s bad, but it’s not like, nefarious. You just need to put the right report together to the authorities.”

Nate started, but Sophie placed a hand on his arm to stop him. She spoke gently. “And what of the patients and employees dying while the paperwork gets processed? You should know how long it takes the authorities to get anything done.”

He scowled in reply, but sat back in his chair. 

Nate spoke up. “Eliot is right though, it should be fairly straightforward. We just need to create a big enough problem that the hospital as a whole gets noticed.” He stood up. “Let’s go steal an emergency.”

 

* * *

  

They reached the small town a few hours southeast of Portland without incident. Hardison had complained bitterly about taking Lucille so far (“And on the _high_ ways, too- through the _for_ est-”), but relented under the condition that Parker rode shotgun. 

Upon arrival, Nate and Hardison stayed at the hotel to set up, Eliot went to find lunch, and Sophie and Parker headed to meet up with their clients at the hospital.

The two nurses were waiting near the front door, although it was a fairly small hospital and not exactly easy to get lost in. They waved as they saw Sophie and Parker approach. 

Sophie leaned forward to shake each of their hands in turn. She smiled broadly, saying, “Hi, I’m Sophie. We actually don’t usually do this kind of job, but we have a bit of a weak spot for hospitals.”

The taller woman- she introduced herself to Sophie as “Elizabeth, but you can call me Liz”- replied. “We’re just so happy you’re here to help. The last few months have been truly awful. We were actually just headed out for lunch- we usually go to the cafeteria here, but since we were meeting you, we thought we’d go to the pizza place down the street.”

Sophie looked reluctant at the idea of a small town pizza parlor, but with the hospital cafeteria as the alternative, she quickly agreed.

The pizza place turned out to be clean, well-lit, and mostly deserted, allowing them to take a table without anyone to eavesdrop. The pizza was sold from the counter by the slice, so they each made a selection and paid before settling in. 

Sophie poked her slice of ‘Maui Wowie’, noting the grease leaking through the paper plate. “We really just wanted to check in with you and let you know that we’re going to take care of everything. It would also be good to know if there’s any additional information you have that you think would be helpful.” This was, of course, not strictly true, as Hardison had every scrap of even tangentially related information, but it was good to get the locals’ perspective. 

Liz and Eileen glanced at each other and shrugged. “I don’t think so- it’s such a small hospital and we don’t exactly have any secrets.”

Sophie sighed, then smiled to cover. “That’s okay. Like I said, we’ll take care of everything.”

They all ate in silence for a few moments. 

Parker suddenly looked up at them, eyes inquisitive. “So you guys are married?”

They glanced again at each other and broke out into simultaneous grins. “Yep, we got married as soon as it was legal! We technically met at the hospital, although we worked different units, and then we started dating after we ran into each other at Pride in Portland.” 

Liz had twined her fingers through Eileen’s. “It was so nice- I didn’t think I’d ever meet another ace woman in this town, let alone where I work and who happens to be such a rad person!” She grinned, and Eileen smiled too, leaning her head over to rest briefly on Liz’s shoulder. 

Parker looked confused, but Sophie stopped her with a touch, and the conversation moved on. Soon, they’d all finished their pizza and it was nearly the end of Liz and Eileen’s lunch break. They all stood up, cleared the table, and parted ways at the door- Liz and Eileen back to the hospital and Sophie and Parker to the hotel. It wasn’t far, given that everything was situated around the small downtown area, so they walked. 

Parker turned to Sophie, as Sophie had expected she would, and asked, “What did she mean, ‘ace’? I thought it meant like, cool, but nobody talks like that.”

Sophie paused, deciding how much to give Parker. “Ace is short for asexual.” She paused again, and when Parker did not reply, she continued. “Asexual can mean a lot of things depending on the person, but it generally means they don’t experience sexual attraction.”

Parker was still silent. 

“Parker?”

“Hmm?” Sophie looked encouragingly at her, but Parker wasn’t ready yet. She shook her head as if to clear it and changed the topic instead. “So- what did you think of the pizza?”

Sophie replied with all the indignation of Lady Charlotte Prentiss. In truth, her slice had actually been pretty good, but she enjoyed a good rant. They reached the hotel shortly after, where they met up with Nate and Hardison in the main room of the suite they’d booked. 

“You don’t need me for a while, do you?” Parker checked in with Nate before heading over to ask Hardison for a spare computer to use.

“Do you have, umm, an extra, thingy?” She looked beseechingly at him. 

“Babe, you know I love when you forget technology words, but you gotta give me more than that.” 

“I just wanted to look some stuff up. I don’t like to use my phone, it’s too small.”

“Ohh, yeah, here-“ He handed her a spare tablet. “It’s already got a secure wireless connection, so you’re all set.” She smiled and made to leave with it. “Hey- we still on for the HGTV marathon later?”

She replied absently, “Oh yeah, uh-huh,” before wandering out to the room across the hall. Hardison sighed and went back to work. He’d find out what was going on with her later- many months of experience had taught him that Parker didn’t do anything until she was good and ready to, and that included sharing what was going on in her head.

 

* * *

 

Eliot returned from lunch and headed straight for the extra room across from the suite, thinking that now was the perfect time for a short nap or maybe to catch some wrestling on pay-per-view. He pressed the door open to find Parker sitting in an impossible position, holding a tablet, and sniffing occasionally. He swore under his breath, and was a half-step back out the door when she looked up at him. He walked back in, putting the chain on the door once it was closed, and went to sit on the end of the bed. She looked blearily up at him, wiping at the tears on her face with the backs of her hands: one eye, then the other. He dug in a pocket and offered her a handkerchief. She took it, but didn’t use it, instead turning it over in her hands and running the sewn edges through her fingers. He waited. 

When she was sure that she’d gotten the sniffles to a minimum, she started uncertainly. “We met with the clients. They’re - they mentioned they’re asexual. I asked Sophie- I looked it up-“ She gestured at the tablet next to her. “There’s a whole network of people- ‘Asexual/Aromantic’. I didn’t- I mean-“ Eliot still said nothing. She liked that about him. “I thought it was a me thing. I thought it was another way I was- broken.” She looked nervously up from the handkerchief at him. 

He knew she needed him in big brother mode, so he quietly replied. “Parker, you’re not broken. In any way. People are all different, that’s all.”In his mind, though, he was turning over the word ‘aromantic’. 

She nodded. “Thanks, Eliot.” She pressed the handkerchief into his hands, and got up gracefully, leaving the tablet behind. 

Eliot looked at it thoughtfully, then got up to re-hook the chain on the door before returning to take Parker’s place on the bed. He scooped up the tablet, and found the internet browser still open to the resources she’d found. He poked through, intending just to browse, and was surprised when he heard a knock on the door and found himself twelve pages deep on the discussion forum. Had he been reading that long? He quickly closed the browser and cleared the history- not that Hardison couldn’t get to it, but they had an unspoken agreement that he wouldn’t- and got up to open the door. 

He found Hardison waiting behind it. “Hey, man, we’re done here.”

Eliot squinted at him. “We’re done?” He sounded indignant. “You drove me four hours into middle-of-nowhere-Oregon for nothing?”

Hardison replied playfully, “Yeah, look, I’m real sorry that you didn’t get to punch nobody, but it turned out that there was a thing, and some stuff, and long story short, Nate got it all sorted in about 20 minutes. I think that’s a record. Anyway, they’ve gotten the paperwork started for the sale of the hospital to some really decent guy who knows what he’s doing, so we’re all set to bounce.”

Eliot rolled his eyes. “I _said_ this was below my pay grade. Can we at least get dinner before we leave? There’s actually some really good restaurants in this town.”

“Uhh, yeah, lemme just grab Parker. Nate and Sophie are- otherwise occupied.”

 

* * *

 

The three of them headed out to the restaurant Eliot had chosen. Parker and Hardison let him order off the menu for them. They chatted briefly about the food, and what a waste of time the job had been, at which point Parker interrupted. “It wasn’t really a waste. Not for me.”

Hardison watched her expectantly. She continued, “I mean, meeting Liz and Eileen. Finding out about other different people.” She paused. “It’s nice, to have a word to describe it. To be part of a community. Asexual.” She said it slowly, drawn out, feeling it roll around her mouth. Hardison reached over and took her hand. She looked uncertainly at him. “It’s okay, right?”

“Babe, you know you never have to ask me that. You- you are _always_ okay with me.” His thumb rubbed gentle circles in her palm. “You are more than okay with me.” She smiled and squeezed his hand.

She turned to look at Eliot. “Did you find anything for you on the site?”

Damn. He didn’t realize she’d noticed, didn’t think she’d left the tablet on purpose. “Yeah, I, uh, it’s not like a big thing, you know.” He coughed, trying to duck the topic, but realized that he actually wanted to share with them- probably the only real friends he’d ever had. “I mean, I guess I kind of knew already. I dated all these girls, but I never- when I was younger, and wanted the kind of relationship you see people having- it was never right. I’m not dumb, I can play along, buy the roses and set the music, but I never had that connection with them.” He glanced at Parker. “It is- it is nice to have a word.”

Hardison smiled at him. “Hey, man, you’re okay too.” 

There was a pause, then Eliot laughed, and the dinner resumed. 


End file.
